Why PoeWar?
May 11, 2008 by John Hewitt
Reader Lillie Ammann wants to know why I named my site PoeWar. It is an excellent question and one I should have answered sooner.
The history of PoeWar goes back to the late eighties, when as a young pretentious college student I was reading Sun-Tsu’s The Art of War. The blurb on the back described him as a Warrior Poet. I liked that phrase so I turned it around to Poet Warrior. I also played a lot of video games back then, and in the eighties video games gave you six letters to record your name/handle when you got a high score. I started using POEWAR (they were all caps back then).
I started going online well before the Internet, back in the days of the BBS (Bulletin Board System). I needed a handle for these systems, so I stuck with PoeWar. It was unique, so I never had to worry about running into someone else with the same handle. This was especially important when AOL came along and eight million users were fighting for names. I didn’t have to be jhewittx456. I could just be PoeWar.
When I first got on the “real” internet back in 1993, It was through my local newspaper’s service, and my web site was part of their sub-domain. Naturally, they named it after my handle, so my original Internet address was http://www.azstarnet.com/~poewar. I started the Writer’s Resource Center that very same year, and maintained it on that site until 1999. In 1999 AzStarnet decided to get out of the service providing business, and I was forced to move my site. Because people already knew it by PoeWar, it made sense to me to make that my domain. If I had known a thing about Internet branding back then, I probably would have gone for a clear expository title. By the time I started thinking of this as a business though, I was already established at PoeWar.com. I continued to call it the Writer’s Resource Center, but the difference between the address and the name has always been an irritant. For this most recent redesign I decided that, warts and all, I was putting the name out there for everyone to see.
That is the story of PoeWar.
Thanks, John! I assumed it was something along those lines, that clears it up.
Bob Younce at WJs last blog post..The Student Becomes The Master
I was way off base. I was thinking along the lines of Edgar Allen Poe and a literary war of sorts. Regardless, I like PoeWar. It sounds pro-active.
Thanks, John, for answering my question. Very interesting story. I’ve been a visitor to your Web site since long before you started the blog, and I’ve been wondering about poewar.com ever since. I enjoyed the explanation, and I appreciate all the great information I’ve learned through the years.
I’d figured out Poetry War (close, but no cigar, eh?). It’s interesting to see how the name came about - and then made me think that many of our best plans come from ideas that we never thought would amount to anything at all.
And by the time we figure that out, it’s too late
Poewar is cool.
James -Men with Penss last blog post..Should You Specialize in Website Content?
JoniB isn’t the only one who was way off base… I was peeking around in the grass to left field, really.
I honestly thought the title was referring to Mr. Poe. Not that I’m disappointed, it’s still an excellent background to the name either way. Sun-Tsu is an amazing historical figure.
@ Johnny
Don’t feel bad. Plenty of people have made the same assumption. It is a very common guess.
@ James
Thank you for the name support!
I also guessed the name came from Edgar Allan Poe figuring the “War” fit with Poe, his life, and his stories. Thanks for letting us in on the story, John.
You were a BBS geek, too, John? Have you seen the BBS Documentary? I’m not as embarrassed to admit this as I was before the internet became popular… my husband and I met through a BBS.
Meryl K. Evanss last blog post..Follow Your Company and Brand Online
I’d love to see and know more about the BBS! I remember a brief intro to Gopher (I think I have that right.) many years ago. Please post the link to the documentary, if possible.